“Al Quds Day gangs are planning to march through the Jewish community”. Meir Weinstein, Executive Director JDL.

Claiming B’nai Brith launched a “smear campaign” against them for their support of BDS and in “defence of Palestinian human rights”, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and their supporters are planning a demonstration. It is scheduled to take place Wednesday, August 29th, at 4 pm in front of B’nai Brith headquarters on Hove St. in the Bathurst Sheppard area.

Last spring CUPW, who has 50,000 members, announced that it had begun a “joint project” with the Palestinian Postal Service Workers Union (PPSWU) to “build greater solidarity between our two unions:”.

In 2008, the CUPW endorsed the international BDS movement , calling for economic pressure on Israel until it” respects Palestinian human rights”. Last fall the union endorsed a Palestinian petition calling on the Canadian government to condemn Israeli settlements. In June the CUPW pledged its support for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that illegally challenges the blockade of Gaza. CUPW member Ron Rousseau participated in the flotilla this summer as it sailed across Europe.

B’nai Brith’s response is that the PPSWU supported terrorism and “the elimination of Israel”. It glorified a Hamas terrorist who was killed by Israel forces after a West Bank rabbi had been murdered. It also called for the release of a Palestinian who was convicted in 2009 of attempting to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

JDL is organizing the counter rally. Director Meir Weinstein calls it is an “anti Semitic terror march that targets the Jewish community, instigated by the instigators and organizers of Al Qds Day”, the hate fest against Israel and the Jewish people that takes place every summer at Queens Park.

In a statement, York Centre Conservative MPP Roman Baber said he was “disturbed and concerned” by the rally, which will take place in his riding. “Premier Ford has been very clear about this – there is no place for hatred in Ontario.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said the anti-Israel activists “choice of location for the rally is “disturbing and exposes how those who target Israel are no less hostile to Jewish Canadian groups. We will not be silent when a Jewish community organization is targeted in this way and we have shared our concerns with Toronto police,” declared CIJA CEO Shimon Fogel.

“We are calling on the Jewish community to join JDL and stop this march which glorifies terrorism against Israel,” said Weinstein. In a letter of Premier Doug Ford he stated that ” Al Quds Day gangs are planning to march through the Jewish community. They will call for the destruction of Israel and insult Holocaust survivors who live in the Sheppard and Bathurst Jewish community. We need you to stop this anti Semitic march. Please take action.”